RO water?

I was just want to know if you guys think this is possible... As far as I know a skimmer removes most to all of the organic compounds in water, right? Well what if you use tap water in a large drum or holder 100L+. If you run a skimmer in it for a few weeks won't the water be usable for the aquarium?

Dont see why not just that skimmers dont perform very well in fresh water - physically try it out you will see - put the skimmer in a bucket of fresh tap water and then in a bucket of salt water you will see its gonna take you ages to skim the dirt out of the tap water as the skimmer will look like its on strike!

No i skimmer will not remove all the necessary irons/solids. To prove, test with a TDS meter. Also if the drum is open RO water absorbs impurities from the atmosphere very quickly. An issue often overlooked on RO reservoir designs.

all it will do is make bubbles in the water Nothing else. I know this because yesterady i was running in my brand new skimmer and added 3 cups of vinegar to about 12 litres water and with the vinegar the solution was Foaming and dirt was being brought to the surface. i then ran the skimmer with plain water and all that happened ws the skimmer was making bubbles.

"Remember, it's a hobby and if it is not fun, or is a cause for worry, or if I can't afford it, it goes in the garbage. but one thing I will never lose any sleep over is a fish tank." Paul B

Hmmm.. Protein skimmers actually do work in fresh/sweet water. The "valley of the waves" at sun city have a few monsters in their filtration system. I will try and find a pic for you guys. But a skimmer wont turn tap water into RO water.

I know that Koi keepers can use skimmers as well as swimming pools but isn't the design different to our conventional skimmers? How do they produce copious amount of bubbles without their being salt present?

Add 1 tablespoon of 30% hydrogen peroxide per 100 litres every 4 hours to your tank in a power failure to oxygenate your water

@Tony i dont know. i have only seen pic's of the skimmers. I know that G.W.Industries used to have a pic of the Sun city skimmer on one of their brochures and i also saw an article of the valley of the waves filter room and pump station for that water slide. Can't seem to find it now.

I know that you do get skimmers for FW but they do not work like the ones we use. Also all a skimmer does is take out dissolved organic compounds from the water, it would not be able to remove all the minerals and impurities present in our tap water

"Remember, it's a hobby and if it is not fun, or is a cause for worry, or if I can't afford it, it goes in the garbage. but one thing I will never lose any sleep over is a fish tank." Paul B

I know that you do get skimmers for FW but they do not work like the ones we use. Also all a skimmer does is take out dissolved organic compounds from the water, it would not be able to remove all the minerals and impurities present in our tap water

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Disagree. Skimmers do not only take out DOC (dissolved organic compounds) out of the water. They also take out particulate matter, bacteria, phytoplankton, iodide, copper, iron, zinc, detritus, calcium, magnesium, phosphate, sulphate and the list go's on.

However i agree that it would not remove all the TDS as a RO unit would.

I think that a skimmer properly rated for a tank will only remove about 20 percent of total organic compounds. I read it somewhere on Advanced aquarist on an article on skimmer performances and removal of TOC. Maybe we should be looking at skimmers rated for five times the tank rating to remove TOC properly??

Add 1 tablespoon of 30% hydrogen peroxide per 100 litres every 4 hours to your tank in a power failure to oxygenate your water